One: I Feel Fine
“Come on, silly! We’re gonna be late!” Sophie Miller yelled from the bottom of her staircase.
Noelle Deeds walked down the spiral stairs of Sophie’s New York Apartment. “Ok ok, I’m ready. Geez. Don’t get your dress in a knot.”
“Well we can’t be late for Juliette’s party. I gotta give her my present before it melts,” Sophie replied, holding a giant box in her manicured hands.
“Hey. It’s not my problem that you bought her an ice cream cake,” Noelle laughed. Noelle and Sophie had been best friends ever since their moms were in the maternity wing in the hospital together.
Sophie set down her present and walked into the kitchen for a Vitamin Water. “Sorry. I guess I’m just excited. It’s me and Spencer’s 3 month anniversary, you know.”
“You only told me 20 times.”
“Too much?”
“Just a bit, dear.”
“Sorry. He just said he had a surprise for me.”
“He already gave you a diamond necklace last month. And everyone is already jealous of you because you’re dating the great Spencer Blair.”
“What’s so wrong with that? I didn’t realize people were jealous of us…” Sophie said, almost meekly.
“Come on, Soph, you can’t be serious.” Sophie looked to the carpeted floor of her living room as Noelle crossed her arms. “It’s Spencer. His dad is a judge and his mom is an EMT. He gave you a freaking diamond necklace for your 2month anniversary. He’s loaded. Anyone can see that. AND he’s adorable. How much better can you get?”
“Oh, that.”
“Yes, that.”
“Well, I don’t love him for that reason. Gosh.”
“Still. Think about this, Soph. What more can you get from the guy?”
“I don’t know. But quit making it a big deal.”
“I’M making it a big deal?”
“Let’s just go,” Sophie said, putting her drink away. She picked up her cake and began to walk towards the door.
“Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if I’d have to pay the town car extra for waiting so long,” Noelle said, fishing out money from her clutch bag.
“Oh shush, Noelle,” Sophie said, going to open the door, “You could’ve just gone yourself, I could’ve gotten a --”
Just as she opened the door, a handsome young man had his finger to the doorbell. The girls jumped. The stranger nervously pulled his hand back and laughed. “I’m sorry to scare you girls,” he said, pulling back his reddish brown hair away from his face, “I was just wondering if this was where I could find Professor Miller.”
“He’s out right now, can I help you?” Sophie asked, stepping back and wondering how this handsome stranger knew her father.
He looked her over a second, then his brown eyes lit up, “Oh, you must be Sophie. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Excuse me?” Sophie asked.
“Your father tells us so much about his daughter during class. He can’t talk about you enough.”
In class, Sophie thought, this guy has my dad for a teacher. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He said, “But it’s all good things about you of course. Like how great a creative writer you are, how you’re going to be the next Mozart, everything like that.”
Sophie laughed, “Well those are definitely stretching it.”
“Well, he does admit that he exaggerates things a bit, but he surely didn’t exaggerate one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That you have the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen,” he said, smiling. “He just said that yesterday.”
Sophie looked back at Noelle, who was as astounded with the stranger’s good looks as her best friend was. She smiled at Sophie, “I’ll be out in the car,” she said, taking the cake from Sophie’s arms.
“Are you late for something?” he asked, “I could come back later if you don’t want to wait for your dad to come back.”
“No, no. Come right in, he said he’d only be a minute,” Sophie told him, ushering him in.
He sat down on a fluffy couch in the living room, looking at the family photos nearby. Sophie hesitantly sat beside him. “You have such an admirable father,” he said, looking at the most recent photo of Sophie, her parents, and her older sister, Sydney, who lived in Brooklyn.
“Yeah, I guess.”
As he was looking, she saw his notebook, scribbled on with poetic quotes from Shakespeare, Longfellow, and Frost. He looked back to realize she was doing this, and said, “These are my favorite quotes. Every time I find one that means something to me, I write it here.”
Most of the cover was filled up, all but one spot in the corner, blocked off from the rest by a solid Sharpie line, “What’s that space for?”
“That’s for one I haven’t found yet. Each one of these quotes are about something different,” He began pointing out quotes on the book, stating what each one meant.
“So what’s the last one going to be about?”
“Love.” He said, “I can’t find one that seems good enough. They all sound so corny.”
“I know what you mean,” Sophie said, looking up from the notebook.
He met her gaze. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as he did. As if in a trance, he shook out of it, “I’m afraid I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Patrick.” He stuck out his hand. She took it.
The front door creaked open. Nicholas Miller, a studious English & Literature teacher at NYU, walked inside. “Mr. Alexander, so good to see you got my message.”
“Yes, I was just talking to your lovely daughter. She is everything you said and more, sir.”
“Of course she is,” Nicholas smiled and put his arm around Sophie. “Speaking of you, aren’t you supposed to be at Juliette’s birthday party?”
Crap, she thought, “Yes. I just thought I should wait until you got home. You wouldn’t want a random student show up alone when you got home, right?” Before she could answer, she grabbed her jacket and darted out the door, where Noelle patiently waited for her in the car.
“Who was that cutie in your house?” Noelle asked when the driver began backing up out of the driveway.
“One of my dad’s students,” Sophie said, dreamily, “His name is Patrick, and he’s a literature freak like me. He’s so sweet, too.” Just then, her cell rang from her purse. She dug it out and looked at the ID: Spencer Blair, it read. She answered it, “Hey, Spencer.”
“Hey, baby. Where are you guys? Did that stupid town car driver get lost?” Her eyes got wide as she remembered her phone was on speaker. The driver sent her the evil eye from the front seat. She quickly pressed the speaker button and put it back to her ear.
“No. Taxi drivers are the stupid ones,” she said, smiling at the driver. He nodded in satisfaction and made the turn to Pavati’s, the restaurant where Juliette was having her party. “We’re right outside the building, we’ll be in in a second.” Sophie got her cake and got out of the car as Noelle paid the driver.
They walked inside as Sophie told Noelle more about Patrick’s visit when they were met by Spencer’s brother, Cassie. Cassie was Spencer’s fraternal twin, but they both had the same good looks: dark blue eyes, golden blonde hair, and fairly light skin.
“Hi, Cassie,” Sophie said.
Cassie gave her a nervous, almost hurt, look, “Um…hi, Sophie. Hi Noelle.”
“Spencer’s upstairs, right?”
“Um…yeah.” Cassie replied, shuffling away.
“Does she always act like that?” Noelle asked.
“Not to my knowledge. She’s never acted like that when I was around.”
“So, what was her problem then?”
“I don’t know, cramps?” Sophie laughed. Noelle giggled and opened the door. Pavati’s was your “everyday Italian restaurant,” as the papers said, with the green awnings and the name of the establishment written in calligraphy on the outside. Past the Old-World doors was a huge dining room, the walls marked with old news clippings in Italian. Each table was set with a dark green tablecloth, reminiscent of the awning outside, and a centerpiece made up of a square metal dish with white candles set on it. The hostess, clad in black dress pants and a white top, greeted them and ushered them to the private dining hall upstairs. The steps were carpeted with extravagant carpet, its greens and purples mixing together to look like a vineyard. The room itself was separated from the rest of the restaurant by maple swinging doors and an archway with Italian words of wisdom written across the top. Clearly this was the finest everyday Italian place in the city.
The girls were greeted by Juliette’s mother, Angela, “Noelle! Sophie! So glad you could come!”
“Thanks, Mrs. Pearson,” Sophie said, looking over her best friend’s mother. Angela was wearing a wine purple blouse and Guess jeans. Her auburn hair, normally careening down her back, was in a fancy ponytail.
Her all-too-cheerful expression could only mean one thing, and that one thing wasn’t a new expression on her face: she didn’t want to be there. Angela knew she spoiled her daughter all too much when Juliette was a child, and she regretted every minute of it. She didn’t know better, of course; after all, Angela was brought up the same way. It’s no doubt Juliette’s grandmother acted the same way about Angela.
She took the cake from Sophie’s hands and managed to paste a smile on her face, “Thanks.”
“Where’s Jules?” Noelle asked, using Juliette’s childhood nickname.
Angela winced in disgust. She hated that name, even though it wasn’t hers, “Juliette is over there.” She pointed to the window seat. The girls’ gaze grazed over the party scene to where Angela’s finger pointed. Sitting in the seat and talking to Spencer was a young girl with brown and blonde hair. The mixture of her party dress (a gold thigh length halter dress with an intricate pattern of circles jumbled everywhere) and her “Sweet Sixteen Chick” sash (white silk with gold calligraphy) made her looking like a disco ball.
Juliette looked over as her mother acknowledged her. A bright smile flashed across her face as she darted over to her two best friends. She embraced them tightly, “I’m so glad you guys could make it!!!”
Sophie laughed, “Happy birthday, Jules.”
Juliette let go of the girls and squealed, “Thank you!!! But omigosh, me and Spencer were SO worried about you guys! We thought you’d never show up!”
“Sorry about that,” Sophie apologized, “We got caught up at my house.”
“Caught up by what?” came the voice from behind her.
Sophie whirled around to find Spencer standing behind her. He caught her by the hips. She smiled, “Oh, just one of my dad’s students is all.”
“A very cute one at that,” Noelle piped in.
Juliette was giddy with excitement at the sound of a cute college student, “Seriously?! What was he like?”
Noelle began telling her, in depth, about Patrick. Sophie couldn’t hear a word she was saying, though. She was too busy staring into Spencer’s deep blue pools of eyes. “So Jules says you were worried about me not making it?”
“Of course,” Spencer said, putting his hand on her deep brown curls, “I’m lost without you, Soph. You should know that.”
Sophie smiled, “Well I’m never far away. Especially when its you I’m far from.”
Spencer leaned in and lightly kissed her. She stood there, savoring the moment, until he pulled away. “Happy anniversary, babe.”
Sophie realized he was holding something in his other hand. She followed his gaze downward to realize he was holding a small box. She took the small velvet box and opened it to find a ring. It was such a beautiful thing, she thought. The band reflected the candles in the dining room, and it was circled with tiny diamonds. She gasped when she opened it, “Spence, I hope you don’t mean what I think you mean. We’re only 16.”
Spencer laughed like he was holding his breath, “No. It’s not an engagement ring, silly. It’s a promise ring.”
“Oh. What’s that?”
“It’s a ring you make a promise over. And I promised that I would love you forever.”
Sophie’s eyes widened with endearment. She could say nothing, she was so speechless. All she could do was hug him as tight as she could.
He laughed, “I knew you’d like it.”
“You gave it to her already? I didn’t see her reaction!!!” Juliette said. She and Noelle were now standing beside them, obviously done with their Patrick conversation. Sophie let go of Spencer, who was reddening with embarrassment.
“I didn’t know you wanted to see it,” He said to her.
Sophie looked from Spencer to Juliette in wonder, “You showed it to her?”
“Yeah. He took me to the jewelry shop to help pick it out. He didn’t know what to choose so I decided to be a good friend and help out,” Juliette told her.
“I think you did a good job picking it out,” Spencer said, “At least, that’s what I got from Soph’s expression.”
Sophie gave a small smile as a waiter came into the dining room. “Come on, guys, let’s all sit down so he can take our order,” Angela called to the group of teenagers. Everyone sat down and the rest of the night, for Sophie, anyway, faded out like a dream. ***
“Why does Italian food make me feel like I need to go to the gym?” Noelle asked as they reached the town car home. Their night had been filled with an extremely high caloric Italian dinner: hearty soup appetizer served fresh because of the occasion, pasta in creamy fettuccine sauce (Juliette’s favorite) for the entrée, and Belgian chocolate layer cake for dessert. Turns out Sophie felt the same way as her friend, although she didn’t realize it until they walked outside of the restaurant.
“I don’t know about you, but all I can think of is getting some sleep. It’s been a long day.”
“Well of course it has. I mean, you only met the dreamiest college kid ever, then went to your best friend’s birthday party and getting a present yourself. And a diamond studded ring, nonetheless. It’s a wonder you aren’t dying of exhaustion.”
Sophie rolled her eyes at her sarcasm, “Very funny.”
“Seriously though, I have a question.”
Sophie knew this wasn’t good. Noelle always started off bad topics with those four little words. She was hesitant with her answer, “What’s that?”
“Did you realize how much Juliette hung around Spencer tonight? They seem to be getting pretty close if you ask me.”
“I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.”
“Well what about when he got you the ring? She said she helped him look for one. He didn’t have help before.”
Sophie was adamant with her thoughts, “You don’t know that.”
“Yes. I do. Remember when my mom got her wedding band fixed because her hand was swollen from that allergic reaction she had?”
“Yeah. What’s your point?”
“She had to go to the jewelry store to get it fixed,” Noelle continued, “And she came home and told me Spencer was in there looking at the bracelets. I never said anything because I was trying to be a good friend and not ruin the surprise.”
“Ok…” Sophie hesitated as if there were more to the story.
In a sigh of aggravation, Noelle said, “Don’t you get it? Spencer was there BY HIMSELF. He had NO HELP getting you that bracelet.”
“Maybe there were a bunch of rings and he didn’t know which one to pick.”
Noelle went on as if she had said nothing, “Do you remember the night of formal when he got you that bouquet of red roses?”
Sophie smiled at the memory, “Yeah.”
“Well when Adam went to get flowers for me, he saw him at the flower shop when he was getting my corsage.”
“So?”
“Adam also said he was there by himself.”
“Ok whatever you’re leading to, I’m not gonna care. And I feel no point arguing,” By this time, the town car had pulled up to Sophie’s house. She gave a tip to the driver and stepped out of the door, only pausing to say, “I don’t know what you think I should do about whatever is going on in your mind, and I’m not feeling like I wanna wait until you figure it out yourself.”
Sophie shut the door as Noelle got ready to say something else. Taking her shoes off on the sidewalk to her house, she skipped up the steps clutching her pricey party favor.
She walked in the door to find her father with Patrick, but now he was getting ready to leave. They were shaking hands and Nicholas smiled, “Good to know you’re improving, Mr. Alexander.”
“Good to be improving, sir,” he returned the smile and then glanced to the doorway, where Sophie stood. She covered up her ring box, but for what reason she didn’t know. Patrick walked over to her, “Well, hello, again,” he said, grinning.
“Yeah, again,” she said, staring into his dark brown eyes.
One: I Feel Fine
“Come on, silly! We’re gonna be late!” Sophie Miller yelled from the bottom of her staircase.
Noelle Deeds walked down the spiral stairs of Sophie’s New York Apartment. “Ok ok, I’m ready. Geez. Don’t get your dress in a knot.”
“Well we can’t be late for Juliette’s party. I gotta give her my present before it melts,” Sophie replied, holding a giant box in her manicured hands.
“Hey. It’s not my problem that you bought her an ice cream cake,” Noelle laughed. Noelle and Sophie had been best friends ever since their moms were in the maternity wing in the hospital together.
Sophie set down her present and walked into the kitchen for a Vitamin Water. “Sorry. I guess I’m just excited. It’s me and Spencer’s 3 month anniversary, you know.”
“You only told me 20 times.”
“Too much?”
“Just a bit, dear.”
“Sorry. He just said he had a surprise for me.”
“He already gave you a diamond necklace last month. And everyone is already jealous of you because you’re dating the great Spencer Blair.”
“What’s so wrong with that? I didn’t realize people were jealous of us…” Sophie said, almost meekly.
“Come on, Soph, you can’t be serious.” Sophie looked to the carpeted floor of her living room as Noelle crossed her arms. “It’s Spencer. His dad is a judge and his mom is an EMT. He gave you a freaking diamond necklace for your 2month anniversary. He’s loaded. Anyone can see that. AND he’s adorable. How much better can you get?”
“Oh, that.”
“Yes, that.”
“Well, I don’t love him for that reason. Gosh.”
“Still. Think about this, Soph. What more can you get from the guy?”
“I don’t know. But quit making it a big deal.”
“I’M making it a big deal?”
“Let’s just go,” Sophie said, putting her drink away. She picked up her cake and began to walk towards the door.
“Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if I’d have to pay the town car extra for waiting so long,” Noelle said, fishing out money from her clutch bag.
“Oh shush, Noelle,” Sophie said, going to open the door, “You could’ve just gone yourself, I could’ve gotten a --”
Just as she opened the door, a handsome young man had his finger to the doorbell. The girls jumped. The stranger nervously pulled his hand back and laughed. “I’m sorry to scare you girls,” he said, pulling back his reddish brown hair away from his face, “I was just wondering if this was where I could find Professor Miller.”
“He’s out right now, can I help you?” Sophie asked, stepping back and wondering how this handsome stranger knew her father.
He looked her over a second, then his brown eyes lit up, “Oh, you must be Sophie. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Excuse me?” Sophie asked.
“Your father tells us so much about his daughter during class. He can’t talk about you enough.”
In class, Sophie thought, this guy has my dad for a teacher. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He said, “But it’s all good things about you of course. Like how great a creative writer you are, how you’re going to be the next Mozart, everything like that.”
Sophie laughed, “Well those are definitely stretching it.”
“Well, he does admit that he exaggerates things a bit, but he surely didn’t exaggerate one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That you have the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen,” he said, smiling. “He just said that yesterday.”
Sophie looked back at Noelle, who was as astounded with the stranger’s good looks as her best friend was. She smiled at Sophie, “I’ll be out in the car,” she said, taking the cake from Sophie’s arms.
“Are you late for something?” he asked, “I could come back later if you don’t want to wait for your dad to come back.”
“No, no. Come right in, he said he’d only be a minute,” Sophie told him, ushering him in.
He sat down on a fluffy couch in the living room, looking at the family photos nearby. Sophie hesitantly sat beside him. “You have such an admirable father,” he said, looking at the most recent photo of Sophie, her parents, and her older sister, Sydney, who lived in Brooklyn.
“Yeah, I guess.”
As he was looking, she saw his notebook, scribbled on with poetic quotes from Shakespeare, Longfellow, and Frost. He looked back to realize she was doing this, and said, “These are my favorite quotes. Every time I find one that means something to me, I write it here.”
Most of the cover was filled up, all but one spot in the corner, blocked off from the rest by a solid Sharpie line, “What’s that space for?”
“That’s for one I haven’t found yet. Each one of these quotes are about something different,” He began pointing out quotes on the book, stating what each one meant.
“So what’s the last one going to be about?”
“Love.” He said, “I can’t find one that seems good enough. They all sound so corny.”
“I know what you mean,” Sophie said, looking up from the notebook.
He met her gaze. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as he did. As if in a trance, he shook out of it, “I’m afraid I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Patrick.” He stuck out his hand. She took it.
The front door creaked open. Nicholas Miller, a studious English & Literature teacher at NYU, walked inside. “Mr. Alexander, so good to see you got my message.”
“Yes, I was just talking to your lovely daughter. She is everything you said and more, sir.”
“Of course she is,” Nicholas smiled and put his arm around Sophie. “Speaking of you, aren’t you supposed to be at Juliette’s birthday party?”
Crap, she thought, “Yes. I just thought I should wait until you got home. You wouldn’t want a random student show up alone when you got home, right?” Before she could answer, she grabbed her jacket and darted out the door, where Noelle patiently waited for her in the car.
“Who was that cutie in your house?” Noelle asked when the driver began backing up out of the driveway.
“One of my dad’s students,” Sophie said, dreamily, “His name is Patrick, and he’s a literature freak like me. He’s so sweet, too.” Just then, her cell rang from her purse. She dug it out and looked at the ID: Spencer Blair, it read. She answered it, “Hey, Spencer.”
“Hey, baby. Where are you guys? Did that stupid town car driver get lost?” Her eyes got wide as she remembered her phone was on speaker. The driver sent her the evil eye from the front seat. She quickly pressed the speaker button and put it back to her ear.
“No. Taxi drivers are the stupid ones,” she said, smiling at the driver. He nodded in satisfaction and made the turn to Pavati’s, the restaurant where Juliette was having her party. “We’re right outside the building, we’ll be in in a second.” Sophie got her cake and got out of the car as Noelle paid the driver.
They walked inside as Sophie told Noelle more about Patrick’s visit when they were met by Spencer’s brother, Cassie. Cassie was Spencer’s fraternal twin, but they both had the same good looks: dark blue eyes, golden blonde hair, and fairly light skin.
“Hi, Cassie,” Sophie said.
Cassie gave her a nervous, almost hurt, look, “Um…hi, Sophie. Hi Noelle.”
“Spencer’s upstairs, right?”
“Um…yeah.” Cassie replied, shuffling away.
“Does she always act like that?” Noelle asked.
“Not to my knowledge. She’s never acted like that when I was around.”
“So, what was her problem then?”
“I don’t know, cramps?” Sophie laughed. Noelle giggled and opened the door. Pavati’s was your “everyday Italian restaurant,” as the papers said, with the green awnings and the name of the establishment written in calligraphy on the outside. Past the Old-World doors was a huge dining room, the walls marked with old news clippings in Italian. Each table was set with a dark green tablecloth, reminiscent of the awning outside, and a centerpiece made up of a square metal dish with white candles set on it. The hostess, clad in black dress pants and a white top, greeted them and ushered them to the private dining hall upstairs. The steps were carpeted with extravagant carpet, its greens and purples mixing together to look like a vineyard. The room itself was separated from the rest of the restaurant by maple swinging doors and an archway with Italian words of wisdom written across the top. Clearly this was the finest everyday Italian place in the city.
The girls were greeted by Juliette’s mother, Angela, “Noelle! Sophie! So glad you could come!”
“Thanks, Mrs. Pearson,” Sophie said, looking over her best friend’s mother. Angela was wearing a wine purple blouse and Guess jeans. Her auburn hair, normally careening down her back, was in a fancy ponytail.
Her all-too-cheerful expression could only mean one thing, and that one thing wasn’t a new expression on her face: she didn’t want to be there. Angela knew she spoiled her daughter all too much when Juliette was a child, and she regretted every minute of it. She didn’t know better, of course; after all, Angela was brought up the same way. It’s no doubt Juliette’s grandmother acted the same way about Angela.
She took the cake from Sophie’s hands and managed to paste a smile on her face, “Thanks.”
“Where’s Jules?” Noelle asked, using Juliette’s childhood nickname.
Angela winced in disgust. She hated that name, even though it wasn’t hers, “Juliette is over there.” She pointed to the window seat. The girls’ gaze grazed over the party scene to where Angela’s finger pointed. Sitting in the seat and talking to Spencer was a young girl with brown and blonde hair. The mixture of her party dress (a gold thigh length halter dress with an intricate pattern of circles jumbled everywhere) and her “Sweet Sixteen Chick” sash (white silk with gold calligraphy) made her looking like a disco ball.
Juliette looked over as her mother acknowledged her. A bright smile flashed across her face as she darted over to her two best friends. She embraced them tightly, “I’m so glad you guys could make it!!!”
Sophie laughed, “Happy birthday, Jules.”
Juliette let go of the girls and squealed, “Thank you!!! But omigosh, me and Spencer were SO worried about you guys! We thought you’d never show up!”
“Sorry about that,” Sophie apologized, “We got caught up at my house.”
“Caught up by what?” came the voice from behind her.
Sophie whirled around to find Spencer standing behind her. He caught her by the hips. She smiled, “Oh, just one of my dad’s students is all.”
“A very cute one at that,” Noelle piped in.
Juliette was giddy with excitement at the sound of a cute college student, “Seriously?! What was he like?”
Noelle began telling her, in depth, about Patrick. Sophie couldn’t hear a word she was saying, though. She was too busy staring into Spencer’s deep blue pools of eyes. “So Jules says you were worried about me not making it?”
“Of course,” Spencer said, putting his hand on her deep brown curls, “I’m lost without you, Soph. You should know that.”
Sophie smiled, “Well I’m never far away. Especially when its you I’m far from.”
Spencer leaned in and lightly kissed her. She stood there, savoring the moment, until he pulled away. “Happy anniversary, babe.”
Sophie realized he was holding something in his other hand. She followed his gaze downward to realize he was holding a small box. She took the small velvet box and opened it to find a ring. It was such a beautiful thing, she thought. The band reflected the candles in the dining room, and it was circled with tiny diamonds. She gasped when she opened it, “Spence, I hope you don’t mean what I think you mean. We’re only 16.”
Spencer laughed like he was holding his breath, “No. It’s not an engagement ring, silly. It’s a promise ring.”
“Oh. What’s that?”
“It’s a ring you make a promise over. And I promised that I would love you forever.”
Sophie’s eyes widened with endearment. She could say nothing, she was so speechless. All she could do was hug him as tight as she could.
He laughed, “I knew you’d like it.”
“You gave it to her already? I didn’t see her reaction!!!” Juliette said. She and Noelle were now standing beside them, obviously done with their Patrick conversation. Sophie let go of Spencer, who was reddening with embarrassment.
“I didn’t know you wanted to see it,” He said to her.
Sophie looked from Spencer to Juliette in wonder, “You showed it to her?”
“Yeah. He took me to the jewelry shop to help pick it out. He didn’t know what to choose so I decided to be a good friend and help out,” Juliette told her.
“I think you did a good job picking it out,” Spencer said, “At least, that’s what I got from Soph’s expression.”
Sophie gave a small smile as a waiter came into the dining room. “Come on, guys, let’s all sit down so he can take our order,” Angela called to the group of teenagers. Everyone sat down and the rest of the night, for Sophie, anyway, faded out like a dream.
***
“Why does Italian food make me feel like I need to go to the gym?” Noelle asked as they reached the town car home. Their night had been filled with an extremely high caloric Italian dinner: hearty soup appetizer served fresh because of the occasion, pasta in creamy fettuccine sauce (Juliette’s favorite) for the entrée, and Belgian chocolate layer cake for dessert. Turns out Sophie felt the same way as her friend, although she didn’t realize it until they walked outside of the restaurant.
“I don’t know about you, but all I can think of is getting some sleep. It’s been a long day.”
“Well of course it has. I mean, you only met the dreamiest college kid ever, then went to your best friend’s birthday party and getting a present yourself. And a diamond studded ring, nonetheless. It’s a wonder you aren’t dying of exhaustion.”
Sophie rolled her eyes at her sarcasm, “Very funny.”
“Seriously though, I have a question.”
Sophie knew this wasn’t good. Noelle always started off bad topics with those four little words. She was hesitant with her answer, “What’s that?”
“Did you realize how much Juliette hung around Spencer tonight? They seem to be getting pretty close if you ask me.”
“I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.”
“Well what about when he got you the ring? She said she helped him look for one. He didn’t have help before.”
Sophie was adamant with her thoughts, “You don’t know that.”
“Yes. I do. Remember when my mom got her wedding band fixed because her hand was swollen from that allergic reaction she had?”
“Yeah. What’s your point?”
“She had to go to the jewelry store to get it fixed,” Noelle continued, “And she came home and told me Spencer was in there looking at the bracelets. I never said anything because I was trying to be a good friend and not ruin the surprise.”
“Ok…” Sophie hesitated as if there were more to the story.
In a sigh of aggravation, Noelle said, “Don’t you get it? Spencer was there BY HIMSELF. He had NO HELP getting you that bracelet.”
“Maybe there were a bunch of rings and he didn’t know which one to pick.”
Noelle went on as if she had said nothing, “Do you remember the night of formal when he got you that bouquet of red roses?”
Sophie smiled at the memory, “Yeah.”
“Well when Adam went to get flowers for me, he saw him at the flower shop when he was getting my corsage.”
“So?”
“Adam also said he was there by himself.”
“Ok whatever you’re leading to, I’m not gonna care. And I feel no point arguing,” By this time, the town car had pulled up to Sophie’s house. She gave a tip to the driver and stepped out of the door, only pausing to say, “I don’t know what you think I should do about whatever is going on in your mind, and I’m not feeling like I wanna wait until you figure it out yourself.”
Sophie shut the door as Noelle got ready to say something else. Taking her shoes off on the sidewalk to her house, she skipped up the steps clutching her pricey party favor.
She walked in the door to find her father with Patrick, but now he was getting ready to leave. They were shaking hands and Nicholas smiled, “Good to know you’re improving, Mr. Alexander.”
“Good to be improving, sir,” he returned the smile and then glanced to the doorway, where Sophie stood. She covered up her ring box, but for what reason she didn’t know. Patrick walked over to her, “Well, hello, again,” he said, grinning.
“Yeah, again,” she said, staring into his dark brown eyes.